Home Care and Hospice Care industry Definitions

HMO

A Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) is an organized system for providing comprehensive health care in a specific geographic area to a voluntarily enrolled group of members.

An organization that, for a prepaid
fee, provides a comprehensive range of health maintenance and treatment services (including hospitalization, preventive care, diagnosis and nursing). HMOs are sponsored by large employers, labor unions, medical schools, hospitals, medical clinics and insurance companies. Development of HMOs was spurred by the federal
government in the 1970s as a means to correct the structural, inflationary problems with the conventional fee-for-service health care payment systems.